PBOTD: 13th February, Mary Oldham - A Dream of Horses

-
Did you dream of a life with horses once you were finally free of the shackles of school? I did. I read those stories where children took over the running of the riding school after an accident or illness conveniently carried the owner off, and I was absolutely sure I could do just as well as they could. If that failed to happen, and I was realistic enough to work out that the convenient illness didn't actually happen that often, and even if it did, there wasn't a huge likelihood I'd be on the scene to help out, well then I'd go on and ride for someone - my dreams were a bit vague on exactly who this would be, but I would show jump my way round the country.

Harrap first edition,1968, illus Robert Hodgson
My parents were beyond appalled by this plan, and put their foot down firmly. We had careers interviews at school, at which we were supposed to turn up complete with a plan for our future. Without horses, of course, I had none, so in desperation, announced (to the intense surprise of both school and my mother) that I would be a bookbinder. Well, I became a bookseller, and I earn my living by writing and editing, so I suppose I was in the right general field.

I never did work with horses, and from my advanced age now, I don't think I really mind. It's the dream of course, when you're a pony obsessed child, and there are books around that will feed that dream, and also provide a bit of balance. Mary Oldham's A Dream of Horses is about just that thing. Heroine Diana Lynch has saved and saved for a horse, and finally buys one, who's both sick, and it turns out, in foal. Besides her horse obsession, Diana has the rather more achievable ambition to be a librarian, and at the end of the book, she's faced with the choice of whether to go for a horsey career with Felix de Vries, the owner of the stables where she keeps her mare, or train as a librarian.

Diana made the choice so many of us must have made. I didn't read this book as a child, but I wonder what I'd have thought of it if I had. I expect I'd have been bitterly disappointed, love the library with a passion though I did, but reading it as an adult I felt a jolt of recognition for Diana and her dilemma.

The book was published just the once in the UK, by Harrap in 1969. It was republished in America in 1969, with the less than harmonious title A Horse for Her.

~  0  ~

There's more on Mary Oldham and her books on my website.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more